Michael Nobbs’ stint as Indian coach started on a promising note but ultimately ended in bitter disappointment.
When the Australian took over the reins in 2011, he promised to re-introduce the former wizards of the game to their original attacking, flamboyant style. To the Indians, who seem to have forgotten the skills of their predecessors a long time ago, Nobbs held up the Australian style — which is supposed to be inspired by the original Indian style — as a template to be followed.
Nobbs’ stint started on a promising note, with the Indians wining their first tournament under his guidance, the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy. Beating archrivals Pakistan 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the final was the icing on the cake.
That was followed by another success as India buried the disappointment of not qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by winning the Olympic qualifiers at home in style in February 2012 to book their spot in the london Games.
But unfortunately, the Indian team’s honeymoon period with Michael Nobbs came to a jarring end soon enough. A string of unflattering performances in a couple of warm-up tournaments against big teams ahead of the london Olympics exposed the glaring weaknesses in the Indian squad.
The fact that all was not hunky dory in the Indian camp was evident even before the Olympic qualifiers as Nobbs had removed Rajpal Singh as captain, alleging that he was a negative influence on some of the junior players. Rajpal was also dropped from the squad along with another senior player Arjun Halappa.
Things got worse in london as India finished 12th and last at the Olympics, their worst ever showing at the quadrennial extravaganza.
That debacle prompted Nobbs to make wholesale changes in the team and he sacked several senior players, including captain Bharat Chetri and introduced a host of fresh faced youngsters as part of his youth first policy in view of the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to be held in 2016.
But despite a couple of promising performances at the Champions Trophy and Asian Champions Trophy, the Indian team’s inability to secure direct qualification to the 2014 FIH World Cup at the Hockey World league in Rotterdam, Holland, seems to have sealed Nobbs’ fate.
He is the fourth foreign coach to be booted out by the Indian federation in recent years. One only hopes for the sake of Indian hockey that the next coach to grace the ‘hot seat’ with enjoy more success.